How many days until...

It seems there is always something to look forward to and celebrate. For instance, today is Mardi Gras.

And there are...
29 days until the NAPO National Conference (March 21-24)
56 days until taxes are due (April 17)
82 days until Mother's Day (May 13)
117 days until Father's Day (June 17)
307 days until Christmas (December 25)
and 53 days until my baby is due!

Timeanddate.com is a good free resource for figuring out the days to an event, plus other useful tidbits of information relating to the date and time. They also have various apps for your mobile devices that could come in handy.

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by Karrett Barbosa

Puzzles and patterns

I've been working on a puzzle. It's a 1000 piece panoramic puzzle of the Louvre museum, and as I've gone through the steps to complete it, it has occurred to me how very much putting together a puzzle has in common with organizing. Perhaps that's why I enjoy puzzles so much.

The first step I always take is to separate the edges from the rest of the pieces and assemble the outside edge of the picture. This is usually the easiest way to get started, as the edges are easily recognizable and it gives you a feeling of accomplishment to get the border complete. In organizing, sometimes going after low hanging fruit (maybe purging all those old newspapers and magazines or socks with holes in them) is the best way to start, so you can get your energy up and be ready to tackle the big picture.

Next, I generally spend some time sorting the pieces, putting broad categories of pieces together in individual boxes, such as all the sky pieces, all the browns, all the pieces that look like they belong to a certain building. I find sorting to be an immensely comforting task. I like finding patterns in objects and deciding how best to group them. With a puzzle, this is enacted at a very basic, soothing level. Because you can't look at any one piece too closely, you have to make quick judgements about color or pattern.

At the 2011 NAPO National Conference, Julie Morgenstern gave one of the keynote speeches. She said at one point that what differentiates organizers from other people is our ability to see patterns where others cannot. I think that is a key trait that organizers possess, and it is a valuable tool in so many situations.

Assembling a puzzle is often as much trial and error than anything else. When trying to find organizing solutions that work, trial and error is a well-used method. We also break down organizing projects into managable chunks, rather than trying to solve everything at once. A puzzle can only be put together one piece at a time. I'm going to stop with the analogy, as I think I've made my point. Plus, I have the rest of the sky to finish!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

Reviewed: Pouchee

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I tend to use things as long as humanly possible, and I don't have a lot of the same kind of thing in different styles. I have just one purse (a Butler Bag) and one wallet. My wallet, a red leather number that cost me fifteen dollars at the Ventura County Fair, was about seven years old and on its last legs when I went to San Diego for the NAPO conference in April. While there, I checked out so many neat products and got to see in person for the first time a product called the Pouchee. I'd heard about it from other professional organizers, and when I saw it I knew it would be my wallet replacement.

The Pouchee is basically a well-designed wallet with the feature of handles meant to make it easy to transfer from one bag to another. It also expands so you can put all your other pertinent stuff in it to make transitioning from bag to bag super easy. I don't use that feature often, but I do love the pockets, which are the perfect size to hold my cell phone and my iPod Nano. The zippered inner pocket holds my cash and coins securely and out of sight.

They come in lots of colors and in leather and cloth. I debated a good while over the red leather or the red cloth, but the cloth one was washable and seemed more what I needed. I've been using it ever since conference and couldn't be happier with it.

I recommend Pouchee wholeheartedly!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

NAPO Conference Recap 2011

Last week I attended the 23rd annual National Association of Professional Organizers conference in San Diego, California. This was my first opportunity to attend conference, and I had high expectations for it. Not only was it voted the most valuable educational resource at the Los Angeles Organizing Awards two years in a row, but every single organizer I ever spoke with about conference always said it was one of the best, if not the best, things they did to support their business. So, I went it with high hopes for learning and getting inspired, and I can say that my hopes were met and exceeded.

There's really too much information about the event to write a detailed recap of everything I managed to pack in to a few days, so I want to give you a few highlights.

First, I want to extend a thank you to the NAPO members who volunteer their time to make conference happen. In particular I want to mention Scott Roewer, a Washington D.C.-based organizer who I had the pleasure of talking with at lunch one day, co-chair of the conference committee and chair the conference once again next year. Scott did so much to make the event memorable and his dedication really shows. He also brought the NAPO membership to tears on the last day of conference, when he spoke about his involvement with Soles4Souls, a non-profit dedicated to collecting used shoes and re-distributing to those around the world in need. You'll be hearing more about Soles4Souls from me over the next year as NAPO has been challenged as a group with collecting and donating as many shoes as we can between June 2011 and next year's conference in March.

More highlights:

Of the six educational sessions I attended, my favorite was probably Working with the Media presented by Jodie Watson, a NAPO-LA member with extensive media experience. She was highly encouraging and informative and made working with the media, from print to television, to promote our businesses seem manageable.

Of the three keynote speeches, superstar organizer Julie Morgenstern's was certainly inspiring, as she talked about the future of the organizing industry and how it is becoming more global every day. I also really liked Collette Carlson's keynote on sales being about truth and a state of mind.

I was thrilled to meet in person some organizers who I have read and interacted with online, including Janine Adams, who was even a NaNoWriMo buddy of mine one year, and Linda Samuels, the author of The Other Side of Organized, a great meditation on an organized life.

The Expo Hall had a plethora of booths for products and services germane to an organizer's practice. I really loved getting to see the Planetsafe Planners in person...for some reason I though they were paper day-minder type things, but they are actually large-format dry-erase wall calendars with lots of neat little features. I got a kick out of the StowNSee, a permanent glasses case for people who lose their glasses a lot, and I bought myself a Pouchee (review to come later).

Next year's conference will be in Baltimore and I plan to be there!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Goals for Conference

The NAPO annual conference is this week in San Diego. I have never before attended and I'm very much looking forward to the opportunity to learn from and with my colleagues. Here are my personal goals for the conference:

1. Get enough sleep, eat a lot of vegetables and try to exercise once a day (they have a pool at the conference hotel). If I'm hungry and tired, I won't be as effective during conference hours.
2. Have meaningful conversations with some of the conference attendees, and make a point to follow up with them, rather than just gather tons of business cards and make no real connections.
3. Explore the Expo. I have heard that it can be difficult to carve out time to visit the part of the conference where companies have set up booths to share their products and services, but I know it's a valuable feature and I want to make a point to do it.
4. Have fun. I'm going to a Padres-Dodgers baseball game Friday night with my conference roommate and a bunch of organizers I've never met before. Networking and sports - love the combo. Go Dodgers!

I'll be back to report on all the conference details. Have an awesome week!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

April's calendar

If you subscribe to my monthly newsletter, you already know that I'm preparing to attend my first organizing conference, the National Association of Professional Organizers' 23rd Annual Conference and Organizing Exposition, next week. I'm extremely excited about the event and have already started my packing list. If you don't subscribe to my monthly newsletter, what are you waiting for? Sign up now!

Other stuff happening this month that you should know about:

April is Script Frenzy month, just like November is National Novel Writing Month. I will be attempting to write a 100-page script in 30 days!
April 1: April's Fool's Day
April 16: National Stress Awareness Day
April 18: Federal tax returns must be postmarked by this day. Passover begins.
April 22: Earth Day
April 24: Easter Sunday

Creative Commons photo posted to Flickr by anee.baba
Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com